Agustina Casas Sere-Leguizamon

Agustina Casas Seré Leguizamon (born June 23, 1984) is an international award-winning digital artist, media executive and businesswoman. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Baszari and Baszari magazine. For more than a decade she has worked in both the fashion and the publishing world. At age 24 she was the Creative Director of Kenzo Takada in Paris, France. Her digital art collection "Ensueños Rioplatenses," was declared a "National Work of Tourist Interest" by the government of Uruguay, the highest artistic honor awarded by that nation (analogous to the United States National Medal of Arts). Casas was also officially declared a "Young Leader in Latin America" by the Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Development Bank (IBD). Casas was named by the Museum of the Americas as "one of the most influential artists of 2015," and she was permanently admitted to its 100 Certified Artists Organization. Casas' work has been exhibited across the globe, including as part of Google's Project for New Media in New York and in private commissions and exhibitions by Fortune 500 companies, such as Fiat (2013) and Goodyear (2014).[1]

Agustina Casas Seré Leguizamon
BornJune 23, 1984
Montevideo, Uruguay
NationalityUruguay
Alma materUniversity of Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Known forEditor-in-Chief, Entrepreneur, Digital Art
Notable work
Ensueños Rioplatenses
Spouse(s)Robb LaKritz (m. 2016)

Biography

Casas spent her formative years living in Bonn, Germany and The Hague, Netherlands, where her parents served as diplomats. It was in Europe, at age 8, that she developed an early passion for fine art and design. For the next two decades, Casas returned to South America to complete her studies in Argentina and Uruguay and to launch her career as an artist. As a young protegé, her talent was quickly recognized by world-renowned international artists Yaacov Agam, who gave Casas her earliest formal instruction, and Japanese artist and fashion designer Kenzo Takada, for whom she later served as Art Director for his shows in Buenos Aires and Paris.[2] The famous Uruguayan artists Pablo Gimenez, Alvaro Amengual, and Rogelio Osorio, in particular, helped to develop Casas' painting style.

Art career

At age 24, Casas' paintings debuted publicly in 2009 in Buenos Aires at the Castagnino Roldan Gallery. Shortly thereafter, and inspired by Andy Warhol and others, Casas began working with digital art, first by digitally transposing photographs of iconic historical figures and later by digitally reconstructing images of iconic sculptures. One of her earliest digital pieces, Liberty, Fraternity and Equality, a tribute to the heroes of the early 19th century Latin-American Wars of Independence, was curated by Google and included in its “Project for New Media” in New York later that same year.

Casas followed the success of "Liberty, Fraternity and Equality" in 2011 by releasing a collection of digital work entitled "Ensueños Rioplatenses," earning her numerous national and international awards at age 27. "Ensueños Rioplatenses" was inspired by the work of Casas' great-grandfather, the famous Argentine sculptor Gonzalo Leguizamon Pondal (1890-1944). Her work, a digitally reinterpreted collection of iconic sculpture images, paid tribute to the stylistic bond that Leguizamon Pondal shared with his contemporary, the Uruguayan sculptor Jose Luiz Zorrilla de San Martin (1891–1975), both of whom in 1931 became their respective county’s first artists to win France's National Salon of Paris Académie des Beaux-Arts prize.[3]

Ten of the twenty-six Ensueños Rioplatenses pieces were immediately curated for Uruguay's Bicentennial, a national event commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the country's May Revolution, and Casas was named as Official Artist of the Bicentennial of Uruguay. The full collection was then displayed in a solo exhibition at both the National Museum Zorrilla and the Santos Cultural Palace in Uruguay. Within months, the entire collection was declared by Uruguay's Ministry of Culture as a "Work of National Tourist Interest," the highest artistic honor awarded by the government of Uruguay, and she was described as a "young iconic artist." Fiat, a major supporter of the exhibition at the National Museum Zorilla, also exhibited the full collection at the Fiat's prominent Stile Italia Space in Buenos Aires. First edition pieces of "Ensueños Rioplatenses," such as "Virgin Flower," were acquired by various private collectors, the National Museum Zorilla, and private foundations, such as the Rozenblum Foundation.

In 2014, after returning from a special artist residency in Rome, Italy, Casas was commissioned by Goodyear to create a three-meter tall Tree of Life made from cut, recycled tires that Casas handcrafted into geometric designs forming a mandala of colors and symbols paying homage to Goodyear’s 100-year history throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The work was unveiled at an exhibition sponsored by Goodyear and Latin Trade during the 2014 Art Basel show in Miami, Florida.

During 2015, Casas earned several new international awards and distinctions. In February, Casas was named one of the most influential artists of 2015 by the Museum of the Americas, and she was permanently admitted into its 100 Certified Artists Organization. She was selected as a winner of the 1st, 4th and 5th 2015 Showcase for New Media by Artslant in Los Angeles. In June, one of Casa's works was selected for a special exhibition of leading international artists at the Carrousel Du Louvre Art Fair at the Louvre Museum in Paris. And in December, at private auction during the 2015 Art Basel show in Miami, Florida, Casas was commissioned to create a portrait of American actress Eva Longoria.[4]

In 2017, she founded Baszari, a highly selective and carefully curated shoppable editorial showcasing luxury fashion, art, and design with a VIP Global Distribution as well as a high purchasing power target. Baszari's A-Listers include world-famous celebrities, designers, and artists including Maestro Carlos Cruz-Diez, Hollywood actors Antonio Banderas & Jordi Molla, Latin Grammy Award singer Alejandro Sanz in collaboration with contemporary American-Spanish artist Domingo Zapata, Art Collector and Real Estate Developer Mr. Craig Robins, Mario Testino, Pablo Atchugarry, Fashion Business Expert Eva Hughes, Art Collector Alan Faena, Angel Sanchez, Esteban Cortazar among many others.

Awards and recognition
  • 2012: Official Artist of the Bicentennial of Uruguay
  • 2012: "Ensueños Rioplatenses," National Work of Tourist Interest, Uruguay
  • 2012: “Young Leader in Latin America," Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC
  • 2015: "100 Most Influential Artists of 2015," and admitted to Museum of the Americas 100 Certified Artists Organization
  • 2015: 1st, 4th and 5th 2015 Showcase for New Media by Artslant
  • 2015: Selected for Special Exhibition, Carrousel Du Louvre Art Fair, at the Louvre Museum, Paris, France

Selected exhibitions
  • 2009: Contemporary Exhibition, Castagnino Roldan, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 2009: Consulate of Uruguay, Argentina
  • 2009: Google “Project for New Media,” New York
  • 2012: National Museum Zorrilla, Uruguay
  • 2012: Santos Cultural Palace, Uruguay
  • 2012: Fiat Stile Italia Space Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 2014: Soho House, Miami, Florida
  • 2014: Tree of Life, Art Basel Miami, Commissioned by Goodyear.
  • 2014: Institute of Hispanic Culture, Houston
  • 2015: Women in the Arts, Museum of the Americas, Miami, Florida
  • 2015: Wall of Peace, Alliance Francaise, Art Dubai
  • 2015: World Art Dubai, Dubai, United Emirates
  • 2015: Women in the Arts, Museum of the Americas, Miami, Florida
  • 2015: Vogelsang Art Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
  • 2015: Carrousel Du Louvre, Paris, France
  • 2015: Pinta Art Show, Miami, Florida
  • 2015: SCOPE Art Show, Miami, Florida

References
  1. "Brussels Times Magazine, p. 36-37" (PDF). September 2015.
  2. "Kenzo En Lordi". LORDI ARTE CONTEMPORÁNEO. November 5, 2009.
  3. http://chnm.gmu.edu/transatlanticencounters/items/show/4601
  4. "Eva Longoria's beau Jose Antonio Baston drops $12,000 at an auction to commission digital artist Agustina Casas Sere-Leguizamon to make a portrait of the actress | Miami Art Watch". miamiherald.typepad.com. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
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